REALA

PEOPLEText: Yurie Hatano

This month’s SHIFT cover “Dead web triptych and counter” was designed by REALA, a design team since 1998 based in Stockholm and London. Not only designing, but they are also marked as eminent filmmakers producing lots of music videos for talented musicians in the world. Their cute and analog-taste illustrations, collage and animations include incisive sense of humor. You can also enjoy their own band “RE:RE:RE:” in a DVD “REALA” with many other various works. Two members of REALA, Jonas Williamsson and Samuel Nyholm answer the questions this time.

Could you tell us a bit about members and history of REALA?

Samuel: We known each other since we were kids, in fact my uncle Eriklives in the same house as Jonas cousins.
Jonas: Reala officially started 1986, as a preadolescent comic book about a dog called Realbert.

How did each of you start (or learn) design?

J: We studied graphic design at Konstfack in Stockholm. It was quite a pleasure actually to experiment with fonts and all different kinds of paper. The introduction of desktop design was really important for us. We also did Exchange studies at Parsons in New York.
S: And at Central Sait Martins in London.

One of the impressions we get from REALA is you are great at making music promotions. Could you tell us about the music videos you’ve ever worked for?

S: We have done quite a few music videos through the years, for smaller and bigger bands. The biggest is Garbage, but it was not the best one and they were not really happy about it. Right now we work with a Norwegian band called Dharma and the main guy there, Ole, seems to be very enthusiastic about our work. Usually we collaborate with other directors, such as Henry Moore Selder, Johannes Nyholm and Andreas Nilsson. The best video we have done is for the psychedelic rock’n roll band Silverbullit. A great video in all senses.

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